Recipe- Peanut Butter Sweet Potato Lentil Burger For Perfect Weekend

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when I say Peanut Butter? I always think of chocolate first because peanut butter and chocolate are like meant for each other. I can never get tired of this combination.

I remember I was so excited to see what my mystery ingredient when I got my package. And as soon as I opened it, I saw a huge bottle of Sriracha Sauce! Yup that’s what my mystery ingredient was. I am well aware of the popularity this hot sauce has gained recently but to be honest I had never even tried it! Yes weird but true, I might have tried it accidentally sometime while eating out but I definitely couldn’t remember. But after tasting the sauce, I realize what I have been missing out in life! ZOMG! It’s so good! And then began the fun to pair it with peanut butter. While I got tons of ideas in my mind, I finally came up with this vegan recipe of Peanut Butter Sweet Potato Lentil Burgers with Avocado Sriracha Sauce. You know there are times when you do an experiment and it turns out way better than you expected it to, well yes this was one of those experiments and I can say I was really happy with the results! Wohoo!

Ingredients

2 sweet potato large [around 0.64 lb]
¾ cup cooked chana dal [split chickpea]
1 onion chopped
3 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped
½ cup bread crumbs
1-2 teaspoon sriracha sauce [adjust to taste]
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
¾ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon garam masala powder
¼ teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon chat masala [optional]
salt to taste
2.5 tablespoons peanut butter [I used Might Maple Peanut Butter]
3-4 teaspoons oil
1 avocado large
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
½ teaspoon lime juice [optional]
salt to taste
pepper to taste
vegan burger buns homemade or store bought
1 big onion cut into thick rings
1 big tomato cut into thick rings
coriander mint chutney homemade or store bought
lettuce leaves

Method

* Wash, dry and peel the sweet potatoes.

* Cut them into cubes, trying to make sure that the cubes are equal in size so that they get roasted at the same pace.

* Add in around 2 teaspoons of oil and coat the sweet potatoes with oil. Do not add too much oil, just enough to cover the cubes.

* Preheat your oven to 425 F degrees. Transfer the cubed sweet potatoes onto a baking tray in a single layer and bake at 425 F degrees for 20-25 minutes or till the sweet potatoes are soft and nice. Set aside.

* Take 1/2 cup of chana dal and wash it.

* Transfer the washed lentil to a pan, add enough water and let it cook on medium heat for around 20 minutes.

* After 20 minutes, remove the lentil from the pan and rinse it. The lentil will be soft by now and that's exactly what we want. [You will end up with more than 3/4 cup cooked lentil here, you can use the remaining in some other recipe.]

* Transfer the cooked lentil and roasted sweet potatoes to a food processor.

* Pulse to get a smooth mixture. The lentils will not get completely crushed and that's fine, that is what we want.

* To this mixture now add cayenne pepper powder, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, chat masala and mix till well combined.

* Add Mighty Maple Peanut Butter to the mixture and mix till well combined.

* Now take a pan and add 1 teaspoon of oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add chopped onions.

* Saute the onions on medium heat till they start turning light golden brown in color. Remove from heat at this point.

* Add the sauteed onions along with chopped cilantro and bread crumbs to the sweet potato-lentil mixture and mix till well combined.

* Add sriracha sauce and mix.

* Divide the mixture into 4-5 equal parts and roll each part into a round. Press between the palm of your hands to form patties. You can get more patties if you make smaller one, these were really big.

* Heat your grill pan on medium heat and apply 1-2 teaspoons of oil on it. Once hot place the patties on the grill pan.

* Once one side is cooked, flip to cook the other side till both sides have grill lines on them.

* Repeat with all the other patties and set aside.

Avocado Sriracha Sauce

* Scoop out the avocado flesh in a bowl and mash it using a fork.

* Add salt, pepper, sriracha sauce and lime juice [optional].

* Mix till everything is well combined. Set aside.

Assembling the burgers

* Take the burger buns and apply the avocado sriracha sauce on one and coriander mint chutney on the other.

* Take one of the buns and place lettuce on it. Place a slice of tomato over lettuce leaves and then place the peanut butter sweet potato lentil pattie that we had earlier prepared.

* Pour some more avocado sriracha sauce on top of the pattie and then place an onion ring on top. Place some cilantro [optional] and cover with the other bun.

* Enjoy the burgers with some more sriracha chili sauce on the side.